After Crait on the Falcon
by WhatIsThis'Sleep'YouSpeakOf
Summary: The survivors of the massacre on Crait have a lot of catching up to do. Rey wonders what and how to tell Leia about her connection with Ben. Leia works to buoy her fighters' spirit. Finn has strong opinions about a lot of things. And Chewie is just trying to keep the ship from falling apart. Started as a one-shot, but got longer.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Assumptions I am making (just so we are on the same page): it has been about 2 weeks since Rey and Finn started off on this crazy adventure-one week for the events in The Force Awakens and one for The Last Jedi (or even, half a week for TFA and a week and a half for TLJ). I also assume that there are only about 2 dozen survivors on board the Millennium Falcon, based off my _very thorough examination_ of the final scene at the end of TLJ (here the italics denote sarcasm). I'm a bit of a Reylo shipper (and whole-heartedly support Rose and Finn growing old together with adorable babies with her spunk and his charm) but am more interested in the development of Rey and Finn as people. And, though they're from drastically different backgrounds, they both came from very limited experiences and will have to figure out this crazy world. I assume they will lean heavily on each other throughout this, so to me their relationship is the most important one in the series now.

So, those are my assumptions. I hope you enjoy it!

"We have everything we need."

Rey felt the warm squeeze on her hand and smiled slightly, accepting the implications of the General's words. General Organa's gesture was intended to be reassuring, but the words weighed heavily on her shoulders. Because she could sense the older woman's expectations—could sense everyone's expectations. That she now had a responsibility, a role in this fight. That she was the Resistance's Jedi.

Barely trained (if one could even call it that), unsure of her abilities and feeling very alone, an ache burned in her chest. If only. If only Master Skywalker had been willing to teach her more before she left. If only he was still alive and she could return to training. If only there was someone else to help shoulder her new burden—this thought stung the most. She had been so certain she'd return to the Resistance with Ben at her side. _How incredibly foolish of me_, she thought. His own father had tried to bring him back and failed—how could she have expected to succeed where Han had failed?

Suddenly, unexpected certainty welled up inside her and swallowed her doubt—No, she wasn't foolish. She'd felt the conflict in him. She knew he was lost and alone and that part of him yearned to move toward the light. Seeing him, kneeling in the abandoned Rebel base where the Resistance had slipped through his fingers, she'd felt his misery. Hunger for power, and then for revenge, had won him. But the pull of the light still was there.

Looking at his mother, she wanted to tell her all these things. Taking a deep breath, she searched for the words to begin.

"Excuse me, General Organa." Someone else broke in before Rey found the words, stepping up and launching into a conversation. The moment was gone. Rey now saw several people standing nearby, waiting for a moment of Leia's attention. Realizing she would have to wait for more time with the General, Rey quietly slipped away to find Finn. Other than their reunion hug and a few significant looks, they hadn't yet caught up. And it appeared he had a story to tell.

For her part, she wasn't sure how much to tell of hers. She was quite certain what his reaction would be to learning of her connection to Kylo Ren. Not good. He had so much hatred for his former superior, if she told him about this connection, he would no doubt explode. She doubted Finn would ever be able to see past the monster. She understood it, really. If she hadn't been forced to share space with him, if she hadn't felt the turmoil of his emotions, if she hadn't seen that vision of his future...a future bright with the light side of the Force, she wouldn't have been able to see past the monster either.

Finn had disappeared down the corridor moments ago, following a cadre of people moving a wounded survivor, and Rey wandered in that direction now. She weaved her way through clusters of Resistance members talking excitedly to one another, comparing versions of the recent events, and made her way down the corridor. A few individuals stood or sat alone against the walls, clearly shell-shocked. For them, the initial euphoria of survival had already drained away and Rey could feel the despair radiating off them. To squeeze past a particularly gangly alien, she had to brush against his shoulder and, in the moment of contact, she felt his mind dwelling on a friend who had perished on the surface of Crait.

She found Finn in the tiny sleeping quarters, where a makeshift infirmary had been set up and the few surviving wounded had been moved. Finn was standing by Rose's bedside. He smiled tightly to Rey as she appeared next to him and slipped her hand briefly into his to give it a squeeze. Rey thought how funny it was that the gesture felt so natural and comforting, when only a few weeks ago, she was infuriated by his habit of constantly grabbing her hand.

They both gazed down at the young technician. "Her name is Rose," he said without preamble, then added in an awed tone, "She loves me." Rey looked at him with slight surprise, but Finn kept his eyes fixed on Rose. Rey's sharp wit was ready to launch any number of teasing remarks—_You've had a busy week, _or _Did that happen before or after you woke up from your coma—_but seeing his earnest expression, she held her tongue and he continued in the same hushed voice, "She saved my life."

Rey asked quietly, "How did you meet?" A slow grin grew on his face at the memory. He glanced around the quiet space. As eager as he was to tell the whole story, this wasn't the right place.

Lieutenant Connix was nearby, having finished attending another wounded fighter. Watching their exchange and, reading the reason for his hesitation, she nodded toward Rose and said, "Go catch up. I'll stay with her. When she wakes, we'll get you right away." Finn blushed and looked sheepish. He desperately wanted to be the first face Rose saw when she woke up, but he was also desperate to talk with his best friend. Connix nudged him, while smiling warmly at Rey, and that seemed to get him going. With a nod and another sheepish grin, he cocked his head toward the hallway and Rey nodded. When they got out to the hall, he gestured dramatically while grinning, "She hit me with an electro-shock prod. Blasted me back 2 meters and knocked me right out."

Rey was surprised by her own laughter, as it bubbled up. With all that had happened, she'd not thought it possible to find joy in anything. Leave it to Finn to bring it back to her. Looking at his open, grinning face, her eyes threatened to tear up and she said bluntly, "I missed you." His animated expression softened to affection.

"I missed you too."

From waking up in the infirmary of the Raddus to the decimation of the bridge and General Organa's miraculous survival, he told her everything. Looking sheepish again, he admitted he'd been about to desert the Resistance with the General's tracking bracelet in an escape pod. He made Rey chuckle again at his description of the after effects of being shocked by Rose's prod. When he got to the part about bringing their plan to Poe, he was interrupted by Lieutenant Connix popping through the door. Rose was stirring. Finn rushed back in and Rey followed, hanging back.

"Hey. How are you feeling?" He gazed down at Rose and the young woman smiled up at him in a way that made Rey feel she was intruding. Suddenly awkward, Rey backed out without a word and made her way to the cockpit, hoping to find Chewie alone. Unfortunately, all the cockpit chairs were occupied by exhausted Resistance fighters.

Not knowing where else to go, she perched on the edge of a console. Chewbacca looked up at her with a meaningful expression and growled a question. _Want to talk about what happened now?_

When he'd picked her up in Snoke's escape craft, shaky and tear-stained, she had refused to say more than a brief, "He's not coming," before immediately changing gears, "We have to get to the fleet. The First Order will be coming for them." He'd let it go at the time, more comfortable taking action than having an emotional discussion.

Rey sighed deeply, prompting him to continue, _What did he say? _ At mention of _he,_ Rey looked meaningfully at their dozing companions and Chewie growled dismissively in response. _You know the chances they understand me are small_. But he let whatever had transpired on the _Supremacy _drop, asking instead, _Does Leia know? _Rey knew he was referring to her connection with Ben Solo and the vision she'd seen of his future. She sighed heavily.

"Not yet. There are too many people waiting to talk to her. I'm waiting for the right moment."

He huffed, _She deserves to know. _Rey could only nod in agreement.

They settled into a companionable silence, watching the mottled blue of hyperspace. She appreciated that he wouldn't push her for more information. She wasn't sure how much she wanted anyone—even the General—to know. It had been an extremely intense series of exchanges. Which had become intensely intimate. But, as with Chewbacca on leaving Ahch-to, she couldn't see how to justify her going to the _Supremacy _without explaining _how _she'd felt the conflict in Kylo Ren.

She didn't have much time to dwell on these thoughts as Commander D'acy rounded the corner and called down the passage, "General Organa is going to say some words to everyone in a few minutes." Rey and their no longer dozing companions obediently moved to the door. She waited expectantly for Chewie, but he demurred, growling that she could give him the highlights as it would be crowded enough without a Wookie crushed into the mix. Rey nodded appreciatively. "The highlights, then."


	2. Chapter 2

They had crowded into the largest of the cargo holds—the lounge being too small to accommodate everyone—all but Chewie and those in the infirmary. Rey stood near the door, feeling a bit agoraphobic. What was left of the Resistance was a scant twenty souls, if you counted the droids, but it was far more than the _Falcon_ was intended to ferry. She'd lived her life under an endless desert sky, with little to no company. The press of bodies around her was uncomfortable, but even worse was the jumble of individuals' emotions she could feel through the force—it was like static from a malfunctioning audio unit; background noise you could almost, but not quite, ignore. That, combined with the noise of a dozen hushed conversations and the heat from so many bodies, made Rey think Chewie had the right idea to stay behind in the cockpit.

Finn came through the door and asked, "Have I missed anything?"

"The General hasn't started yet."

"Want to move in further?" Finn clearly did, his eyes searching the congested room for a better vantage point.

Rey looked at him pointedly, "Ah, No."

He nodded once, then gave her a quick smile and squeezed her elbow affectionately before moving off into the crowd. _Being tightly packed into a crowd must come easily for him given his upbringing, _she thought.

General Organa stood up and a hush fell over the audience. "You don't need me to tell you what this day has been, what losses we have sustained, those loved ones we will never see again. It will take a long time for each of us to process what we experienced. A long time to mourn the sacrifices our friends made." As she spoke, she looked at each and every one in the crowd, her eyes filled with deep sorrow. "Right now, for many of you, it feels like life will never be the same. And it won't." She paused before continuing. "It feels like our fight is over and all hope is gone. But it isn't." Rey stood up straighter as she felt it—with Leia's words came a wave of confidence. It was palpable and Rey could feel it spreading to the others in the room. She looked with surprise at the General. She'd understood that Leia Organa was force-sensitive, but the General was projecting her confidence so completely, so powerfully, so perfectly using the force to influence her listeners, it was startling. Another look around at the audience and Rey saw that they were sitting up straighter, some even catching each other's eyes and nodding. Quite a useful skill for a leader, she thought to herself, as Leia continued.

"We are the witnesses to what happened, when the First Order tried to wipe us out. And we will tell the galaxy of how, in our darkest hour, when we were within the grasp of that terrible machine of tyranny, we escaped. We will tell of the sacrifices our heroes made." She looked down at her open palm, as if seeing something invisible laying there, before looking up into the faces before her. "Before he walked through that blast door, my brother reminded me of something important. Luke said, 'No one is ever really gone.' Those we have lost… they aren't really gone. They live in our memories. Let their sacrifices be remembered. It falls to us to spread the tale of their deeds to every corner of the galaxy, to every downtrodden and oppressed people. We will be the spark of hope that the galaxy needs. We may be few, but we are powerful. And the Force is with us." The room burst into applause as she sat down. Several people turned around to look at her, the supposed Jedi, and Rey felt uneasy. She wondered, not for the first time, why the General wasn't trained to be a Jedi.

She had asked Chewbacca, on the long flight to Ahch-to, why Leia wasn't a Jedi like her brother. She'd tried pressing him for information about the man they were flying to meet, but quickly gave up. Still full of heartache over the death of his best friend—by the betraying hand of a son no less—Chewie hadn't been in the mood to talk. When she changed gears to ask about General Organa, she'd felt a strong undercurrent of anger beneath his non-answer.

"You're mad at the General?" He'd grumbled something about Han being wrapped around a princess' finger. "You blame her for what happened to Han?" If her hair hadn't been tied up, it would have been blasted sideways by the force of Chewbacca's responding bellow. "Alright, I'll mind my own business," she'd shrugged and busied herself with the controls in front of her. "Just seemed like you might want to talk about it." And she'd been right; in another moment he was grousing away about how Han wouldn't have confronted Kylo Ren if Leia hadn't begged him to bring their son back. "You're sure he wouldn't have tried?" Rey was doubtful and after a moment, Chewie grumbled a sullen agreement. He would have. Despite it all, Han had loved their son. They all had. A long silence had grown between them, Rey aching at the thought of such love, aching to have that love for herself, from her parents. The familiar panicked thought had sprung up, "What if they come back now and I'm not there!" But then Chewie grumbled something again and Rey turned to him in surprise, "Why would the General blame you?" He should've been there, Chewie moaned, should have stopped it from happening. Rey shook her head fiercely, "No. If she does think that, it's not fair. You couldn't have prevented what happened. The only one to blame is Kylo Ren." She had glowered even more fiercely out at the mottled blue streaming past the viewport. "Murderous beast." Chewie'd surprised her again, this time with a plaintive moan that recalled the memory of a young boy he'd once looked on as a nephew: _He wasn't always._ He'd then settled into a silence so profound, Rey had left the cockpit to give him privacy with his painful memories.

The end of that conversation, only a week ago, yet also ages ago too, reminded her again of how wrong she'd been. Master Luke had said, "This is not going to go the way you think." She sighed audibly and drew attention from a nearby pilot. Which in turn snapped her attention back to the room where the talk had quickly turned towards the necessary next steps; gathering allies, consolidating resources, and above all spreading hope to the masses. More voices chimed in ideas and questions. Rey's attention waned for a moment, until she heard a mention of Supreme Leader Snoke. Without really intending to, she said, "Snoke is dead."

Though she'd said it quietly, a hush fell over the group and everyone turned to her expectantly. Wishing she'd held her peace, Rey looked at Leia and, seeing her expectant face, repeated herself. As a shiver of excitement traveled through the room, Leia nodded thoughtfully. Poe, skeptical about such good news, asked, "How do you know?" Finn added, "Is it a—" he waved his fingers expressively—"Force thing?" Rey opened her mouth to respond, but suddenly everyone in the room began talking at once. "Dead!" "Who would be next in command?" "What if it's a trick? He could be faking his death." "What would the point of that be?" General Organa raised her hand and quickly the chatter died out.

"How do you know this?"

Rey took a deep breath, as this was going to take some uncomfortable explaining. Keeping her eyes on the General, she said, "I was there when it happened. In his throne room. On his flagship." Rey could have dropped a bomb into the room with less effect.

Finn burst out, "You were on the _Supremacy_?!" Poe exclaimed, "But you went to find Skywalker! How did you end up there?" A chorus of other voices threw in their own questions. "How did he die?" "Who killed him?" Rey sighed. She'd really hoped for a less public explanation. She looked at Leia urgently, pushing the memory towards her, willing her to understand, to see in her mind why Rey'd been there, making it unnecessary to say it aloud. It worked. The older woman gasped slightly and, though no one heard her through the clamor, breathed it almost as a question, "Ben." Rey nodded severely and Leia rose to her feet, making her way quickly towards her. Finn got to her first, though, and grasping her arm, got her attention.

"Rey, how did it happen?"

"He was killed… by—" here she hesitated, and used the name familiar to the Resistance—"by Kylo Ren."  
"And you were there? What about the Praetorian guards?" While the average Resistance fighter might not know of the Praetorian guards' existence, Finn knew enough to be astonished. "Rey, how are you still alive?"

Leia took her by the arm and said, "Let's go somewhere private. Chewie's in the cockpit?" Responding to Rey's nod, she said, "Good. If he doesn't already know what you're about to tell me, he'll want to know."

When they reached the passage to the cockpit, Leia ushered Rey ahead of her and said briefly to Poe and Finn, who were on their heels, "Will you ensure that we are not disturbed?" Exchanging looks, they moved to follow, but stopped when the General gave them a stern look. They hung back, but strained to hear as Rey told Leia and Chewie everything that had happened on Ahch-to and the _Supremacy_.


	3. Chapter 3

Poe and Finn looked at each other. They couldn't hear anything Rey was saying. The look General Organa had given them was freezing. Neither wanted to risk incurring more of her wrath, but they had to know what was being said 4 meters up the passage. As if on cue, BB-8 rolled up, assessed the situation curiously, then opened a control panel and extended a tool towards the cockpit. Turned out to be a microphone of sorts and the next sentence they could hear every word being spoken clearly.

"This little droid is amazing," Finn whispered to Poe, who patted his little metal companion with affection.

"I probably should have told Luke right away," Rey was saying, "But he already was so against teaching me, I was afraid he'd refuse altogether if he knew. So I told him I was cleaning my blaster and it'd gone off.

"The next time was outside the Falcon. Like before, one minute I was alone, the next he was there in front of me. I couldn't see his surroundings, but it sounded like he was near a construction zone—like maybe welding was happening nearby."

Several of the more curious Resistance members had crept up and were now listening too.

"I was so mad at him, did nothing but call him names. But he was just curious about why this was happening to us. I could sense his emotions this time, and I know he felt my hate. But... when he admitted to being a monster, Ben had this sense of … resigned misery. Like he regretted it, but believed there was no other way to be."

Rey continued to talk, and as he listened and comprehension slowly began to dawn on him, Finn felt his chest grow cold. She was talking about Kylo Ren. She had some weird connection to that monster. And the way she was talking about him, the more she said, the more obvious it became that she cared for him. At some point, it became to much. How could she talk about him with such sympathy? She'd seen what he'd done to his father—_His Father!_ Clearly he was manipulating her. Finn sprang forward to enter the cockpit and confront her, but Poe stopped him with a heavy hand to the chest and a "don't you dare blow our cover" glare.

"Who's 'Ben'?" someone behind them asked.

They turned around and found the narrow corridor entrance was crowded with other eavesdroppers. The two exchanged another look, then turned their attention back to the confessional happening in the cockpit.

Leia sat extremely still, taking in Rey's words, drinking in each detail like a woman who'd been dying of thirst and was now presented with a river. Chewbacca occasionally chuffed or growled softly, adding his own commentary to the first part of her story he was already familiar with, then falling silent for the rest of it. When Rey finished telling about her escape from the Supremacy, a silence stretched out as what was left of Ben's family considered what she had told them.

Finally, Leia looked at Chewie and said acerbically, "And you let her go to him?" Chewie shrugged. _If there was a chance of bringing him back? You would have too._ Leia made a noise, half a chuckle, and nodded sadly. She would have.

Despite everything, he was her son. Whether or not she could forgive him for what he had done was another matter. Chewie made a sorrowful moan, responding to her unspoken thought, _Regardless what he did, if __**our **__Ben is still there… _he let the thought trail off and they both lost themselves in memories of the boy Ben had been.

An ecstatic tangle of limbs, wrestling with Chewbacca on the floor, beaming with joy when the Wookie let him win. A flurry of footsteps running across the pavement of the landing pad to throw himself into Leia's arms upon her return from yet another week-long mission. Those serious eyes intently pouring over a book, then looking up suddenly to ask a question. So many questions. He had nearly overflowed with questions—always difficult ones to answer.

Overcome with emotion, Leia put her hand on Chewie's arm and squeezed it. That Chewbacca could remember the boy they had loved, despite his own pain and loss... her heart ached even more. The Wookie turned to Rey and rumbled the question they were both thinking.

Rey sighed. "I don't know. I don't know if Ben is still there." She paused, thinking miserably about the final moments on the Supremacy, then their last connection. "If he is, it won't be as easy to bring him back as I'd imagined. The conflict is still in him, but..."

"The dark side has had a long time to worm its way into him." Leia finished. After another long silence, a thought occurred to her, "Snoke claimed to have connected your minds together? Now that he's gone, do you think the connection is broken too?" Leia looked torn between hope and fear, and Rey felt guilty. She hadn't planned to tell about that last connection.

The steady, blank expression on his face coupled with the roiling sea of emotions hidden beneath the surface—forlorn despair, aching disappointment, humiliation and bitter frustration, regret and longing. Longing most of all.

Throughout their connections she'd sensed that longing in him, a nebulous sensation that was so deeply a part of him, as if it came from his very bones. Once her initial feelings of disgust had run their course, she'd recognised a kinship with that longing in him, knowing that it was just as deeply a part of her too. In that moment on Crait, his longing was so strong it was nearly overpowering, her sympathy would have risen, if it hadn't been for her righteous indignation. He had no right to feel such longing—he who had betrayed his loved ones. Who had waged war against his mother, murdered his father, burned and slaughtered the legacy of his uncle. Who continued to willfully follow the path he was on, a path that couldn't be anything but a solitary one. His decisions had led to this moment and she was furious at him for having the audacity to feel abandoned. Any sympathy buried in her indignation, she'd shut the ramp emphatically, grimly satisfied when the act successfully closed the connection.

With a deep breath, she admitted, "The connection is still there. It happened back there on the surface, while we were loading everyone on board." Leia leaned forward expectantly, but Rey shook her head and added, "He didn't say anything. He was just full of frustration and regret ...and despair." Another silence stretched between them, eventually broken by Chewbacca asking the most strategically important question, _Could he use this connection to find you? To track us somehow?_

Rey said she doubted it, as he hadn't been able to use it to track her when she was with Luke. But she couldn't be certain that he wouldn't find a way. His fury at her refusal had been ferocious, nearly drowning out his disappointment, and she knew that he would now be pursuing her as predaciously as he'd pursued Master Skywalker.

"He'll be coming after me. Of that, I'm fairly certain." Chewie growled an oath in response, which got a chuckle from Leia.

"Chewie's right. We'll keep one step ahead of the First Order. And it's new Supreme Leader." She sighed, then looked down the corridor where a group had gathered behind Poe and Finn, and was brought back to the present. "What are your plans now?"

The question caught Rey off guard. What _did _she plan to do now? Luke was gone, so returning to Ahch-to was pointless. She certainly wasn't going back to Jakku, now that she accepted no one was coming for her. A hollowness filled her heart at that thought; she hadn't yet let herself think about the realization Ben had forced on her. It was like a precious dream she'd clung to for years had been shattered and the shards that were left would cut her if she tried to touch them. "I… I don't know. I guess I—" She was stopped mid thought by the sudden claxon of an alarm. It was accompanied with a constellation of flashing lights on the console and the sound of gas leaking somewhere nearby.

Chewbacca threw his hands in the air, crying out frustratedly, and then he and Rey flew into action while Leia slumped back into her chair and covered her eyes with her hand dramatically. "Some things never change. Is this ship going to, by some miracle, hold together long enough to make it to our destination, Chewie?" He growled a sarcastic response and Rey got the distinct impression she was witnessing a squabble that had been repeated over several decades.

The alarm noise brought some of their clandestine audience out of the passageway and into the cockpit. "Need a hand?" Poe asked.

Finn added, rather unhelpfully, "What's that alarm for?"

BB-8 chirped at Chewie, who turned to scowl at him menacingly enough that the droid rolled back a bit.

"Life support," Rey said, then asked the very irritated Wookie, "Where do you keep the oxygen scrubbers?" He ordered Rey to look under the panel on her left. "Ah! Brilliant! I'll get right on it." Rey had the tool he'd guided her to in hand, was out of her seat and squeezing past the new arrivals, nearly tripping over BB-8 in her rush to get down the passageway. Chewie called after her and she shouted back, "Forward Hold. I know!"

Leia dropped her hand to give Poe an eloquent look, before waving her hands vaguely around them, "Every damn time. Something on this ship breaks." Chewie growled a warning and Poe shrugged.

"Well, it _is _an old ship." That earned him an indignant glare and obscenity from the Wookie. Finn hesitated, looking at each in turn, then followed Rey. BB-8 rolled after him.


	4. Chapter 4

Rey was shoulder deep into the life support system by the time Finn and BB-8 got to the Forward Hold. He hung back, wary of beginning a conversation with Rey, after all he'd overheard. BB-8 rotated his 'head' to look up at him, then Rey and back again. Finn frowned at the droid, but it's implied suggestion finally got through to him.

"Uh, need me to hand you anything?"

"Not at the moment." She grumbled a curse when her hand slipped and the tool clanked against the unit's housing.

"Oxygen scrubbers failing?"

Rey grunted affirmation, then added, "There's too many of us on board. This unit wasn't meant to process that much CO2." She extricate herself from the equipment, "Hand me that spare filter?" She pointed to a nearby crate. He found the spare part easily and handed it over. Trying to think of a casual way to get a conversation started, he rubbed the back of his neck and spoke with what he hoped was jaunty nonchalance.

"Suffocation. Not the best way to die, but there are worse."

"Not if I can help it." Her head disappeared back into the unit, "Bypassing the regulator and adding a secondary filter should let it process more air. Just need to…" she grunted, struggling with a stubborn attachment. "There." The hissing sound stopped and a moment later, the alarm turned off. She worked a bit more, occasionally ask him for another tool. His first attempt at conversation having failed, he looked at BB-8, who gave the droid equivalent of a shrug. When she finally was finished, she emerged and sat back on the floor with a sigh. "I doubt this system has been worked on since leaving the dockyard all those decades ago. That'll hold for now, but I don't think it can handle the load indefinitely."

Finn nodded silently, standing with his arms crossed, his usual jubilant energy drained. He looked everywhere but at Rey. After an awkward moment, she spoke so quietly, he just barely caught her words.

"You were listening." Her eyes were on the scorched life support part in her hand, but when he glanced at her, he could see she wasn't really looking at it. She looked relieved, but also embarrassed and he suddenly felt guilty for eavesdropping.

Clearing his throat, he looked away before she could make eye contact and muttered, "Yeah."

"How much did you hear?"

"Not much." He said, but immediately amended the lie by making eye contact and admitting, "Well, a lot. Actually, most of it."

Rey sighed. "...And?" It was an invitation for his opinion, and he took it.

"How do you know it isn't some trick? A twisted mind game to get to you!? He lets you believe he wants to be good, just to get you on his side, then brainwashes you! Or kills you! We know what he's capable of. We saw it happen. His own father, Rey! What would stop him from doing that to you?"

"I know," Rey broke eye contact to gaze miserably at the floor, "I know exactly what he's capable of. I haven't forgotten. … But I also know that Ben regrets it—" Finn scoffed derisively—either at the name she used for him or that he could regret anything, or both—but she continued, "and that the Light side of the force still pulls on him. I felt it—"

"But how do you know you didn't just 'feel' what _he _wanted you to feel," Finn interrupted, "He's been a Jedi or _whatever _he is for a lot longer than you. Maybe he can fake his emotions or something. Maybe," Finn leaned forward earnestly, "Maybe he put that vision in your head so you would go to the _Supremacy_. Maybe it was all part of his big plan." Rey was shaking her head thoughtfully.

"No… No, he was surprised when I came. And frightened. He mostly hid it, but I could feel it. He can hide emotions, but I don't think he can project an emotion he isn't feeling. And my vision of his future—that wasn't from him. That was something altogether different."

"Maybe Snoke put it there."

Again, Rey shook her head, "No. Snoke felt very different. He couldn't have given me a vision like that—he had too much darkness about him. I would have felt it."

"But how do you know?" Finn insisted, desperately.

"I just do." She ended rather lamely. They regarded each other for a moment in silence, Finn wanted to keep arguing, try to make her see reason. But instead, he reached a hand out to help her up, then pulled her into a tight hug.

"I'm glad you're alive. I can't believe you managed to get off the Supremacy." Then he added in an undertone, "I can't believe _we _managed to." Rey pulled back to look at him in confusion.

"We?"

Finn's eyes twinkled. "Rose and I were on the Supremacy too, when everything blew up." BB-8 suddenly rolled into his leg and beeped peevishly. "Ow! Right. Rose, _BB-8_ and I."

"What?" Rey looked even more incredulous. Finn let his arms drop from around her and rubbed the back of his head with one hand, resting the other on his hip.

"Yeah, we were trying to shut off the tracking system so the fleet could jump away without being traced. Obviously, that plan didn't work out." BB-8 moaned sadly and Finn looked at the floor.

Rey squeezed his arm, "Yeah. My plan didn't work either."

Finn asked in an awed voice, "The Praetorian Guard… You and Kylo Ren really fought them all? And won?" She nodded and he was momentarily at a loss for words. "That's… that's just… unbelievable. They're like the best of the best. I mean, seriously. The most elite. That you took them on. And won. Kriff!"

Rey didn't look as proud as Finn thought she had the right to be. If anything, she looked saddened. That damn Kylo Ren.

"So, will this seeing-Kylo-Ren-thing happen again?"

"Probably."

"Will we be able to see him too? Will he see us?" Finn had missed the initial explanation of the connection.

"No. I don't think so. Master Skywalker didn't see him the first time. And he was right there in the open. And we can't see each other's surroundings. But, we can hear things. So, I guess he'd be able to hear you maybe."

"Oh, and do I have some choice words for him." That made Rey bark a laugh and they both began chuckling at the thought, before Finn continued, "But I thought Luke Skywalker did see him. When he destroyed the hut."

Rey's forehead scrunched thoughtfully. "Yes, but I think he could see Ben because we were touching hands." Finn made a face at that, causing her to blush self consciously, but she pressed on, "But it might have been because he wasn't shutting himself off from the Force. The first time it happened, Skywalker was closed off from the Force. Maybe, if he hadn't been, he would have seen Ben then. I don't know. There are a lot of things I don't know. But, I have an idea where to look for answers."

She led Finn to the drawer where she'd stowed the Jedi texts and handed him one. When he learned what he held in his hands, he looked at it with awe, turning the pages gently.

"I can't read this," he said, "Are any of these books in Basic?" Rey shook her head.

"I think they are all in different languages. But none of them look familiar to me. When I get a chance, I'll try checking them against the computer's database. Hopefully that'll turn up something. Hopefully the computer will have a way to translate it… and then read it aloud, if possible…" Rey looked abashed as she admitted, "I'm not a great reader. Learned enough to identify parts and read manuals; technical stuff, really. This kind of," she waved her hand at the books, "philosophy is bound to be beyond my literacy, even in Basic."

Finn nodded knowingly. He might fare a bit better than her, having been schooled on military and societal philosophy—or rather, the First Order's propaganda that masqueraded as philosophy—but he was sure there were concepts that'd be over his head as well. That didn't stop him from offering, "I'll help you. We can figure it out together. Two heads are better than one, right?"

He was rewarded with a smile that warmed him like a sunbeam.

A/N: There you have it: What I like to imagine happened within the first two hours on the Falcon, immediately after they escaped Crait. I have more in my head, like how that murderous beast is faring with his new role in the First Order and his BFF (she said sarcastically) General Hux. I may expand this someday to include that. And maybe even a whole epic, tragically romantic, saga. But that isn't very likely, given that Episode Nine will be upon us before I could possibly hammer it all out.

If you like it, let me know. If you have suggestions on how to improve, let me know. If you wish I had incorporated the Porgs, let me know... I may have to edit them in. Tastefully. Only tasteful Porg usage in my fanfiction. (To which the proper response is "What would amount to distasteful porg usage?" and the answer would be, "Any and all porg usage is tasteful.")


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